Xbox President Don Mattrick Leaving For Zynga - UPDATED

[The Lugz]

I guess always on meant that much to him he had to develop facebook games, good luck to him... at least i'll never have to worry about him.

I'm slightly nauseous about the entire console war, and all the pseudo political Bee Es that it's turning into it's like some mythical holy war and all these characters are the martyrs that died to enslave the human race and turn us into a matrix-esque money farm.

and, that would probably make a better game than anything that's been farted out of the proposed 'next gen' sideways sofar
/sadface

#EDIT

Wouldn't that be like wanting to take the helm of the Hindenburg? ...after it crashed?

hah! well if the flames are out then get in while the gettin's good.. there might be some gold fillings he can scavenge from the dead.

( totally a valid metaphor! )

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.

Next thing you know they'll hire Adam Orth for PR.

No no no, I doubt that would be the case. It's much more likely EA has their eye Orth. Since EA has quite the "Deal with it" mentality.

 

[Smeggs]

Wat


Did he decide that he really enjoys fucking up and joined the most fuckingest up game company in the industry?

It is quite common for people to want to seek out like-minded individuals who share their views and ideals in common. Zynga wants money and does so by fucking over other people. Don Mattrick wants money and does so by fucking over other companies.

 

[Vylox]

A guy who worked on a bad console is moving to a company that makes bad games...

Excellent, just the reason I needed to go play Zynga games.. .... /sarcasm

 

[Scars Unseen]

Are Zynga and EA freaking insane!? I wouldn't so much as leave this guy in charge in my lemonade stand. He'd probably take out the lemons and reserve the right to knock the cup out of your hands after you bought it.

Are we sure he isn't going to be head of EA's customer service department?

 

[thenoblitt]

leaves one horrible company for another one.

 

[Product Placement]

...Well, I'll be. It's like a match made in heaven. Seriously, this guy was doing every possible PR blunder imaginable for Microsoft so they're a whole lot better off without him. And seriously, EA and Zynga were actually fighting over this guy? They wanted him to lead their mess? And he seriously picked Zynga, of all places!?!?!?

But yeah, RJ 17 said it best with his alternative title for this article:

"Rumor: World's Most Incompetent Gaming Company President To Become New CEO of World's Most Incompetent Gaming Company, Turns Down Offer From World's Second Most Incompetent Gaming Company."

 

[Smeggs]

Im shocked that EA were considering head hunting him.

Yes, because why would EA possibly want to hire a guy to be in charge that is willing to sell people spy camera's as product to spy on them in their own home?

Why would a game publisher that tries to force always online into everything for DRM purposes possibly want to hire a guy that tried to force an entire console generation into always online?

Why would a game publisher that tries to stop used game resale's with a code system (which for the time being at least has been stopped) possibly want to hire a guy that tried to completely remove used games from a an entire console generation?

Why would a game publisher that forces mini add's on the menu pages of their games possibly want to hire a guy that during his reign turned the original Xbox Live from a 2 banner add dashboard to advertisers wet dream?

He must look like fucking Jesus to EA.

He is EA's corporate polices given flesh.

No gif or image can even begin to express how violently I laughed at the last line of this post.

Anywho, I can see any number of reasons that he would have gone to Zynga. The most obvious being that he saw some bad stuff coming his way due to his own incompetence and wanted to haul ass out of Microsoft before the big spiked boot hit him on the way out.

Captcha: be nice

No, he's an ignorant bastard and I'll say so if I want to.

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

Im shocked that EA were considering head hunting him.

His many faux pas with the Xbox one gave me the impression that he wasn't a gamer. Just a head honcho showing off the work of people under him.

His backwards compatible remarks and his infamous 'we have an offline console, its called the xbox 360' quips told me that he didn't really know about the market he was dealing with.

Why would EA want someone who seems really out of touch as head honcho.

Zynga .... its a different beast to EA, but still.... The man isn't a gamer.

I personally love his comment about working on a nuclear submarine and how he showed zero consideration for any the poor sailor who sent that to him. "Too bad troops, guess you don't get to play our new games."

He is a business man, and business men have no place in this medium except to help keep things in line financially. They should NOT in anyway shape or form be allowed to design and dictate what a game console should or should not have or do. I bet you there were people on the design team saying: "Yeah this is totally not going to go well for us" months before E3.

 

[Lightknight]

Well, good for Microsoft which generally means good for us. I hope they get a good leader at the helm after this. Someone who understands the target market and gears the product towards them. This could be a major turning point for MS.

I'd say he wasn't a bad CEO necessarily. He had some good ideas but his Microsoft seemed to embody the nature of forcing things people don't want on them rather than giving them a platter and the ability to put what they want on it. Maybe forcing bold advances would really work in some industries but I don't think it'll work in tech. Not when even the people who like tech don't want the things being unnecessarily forced on them.

 

[RJ 17]

UPDATE: Zynga has now officially confirmed that Don Mattrick is joining the company as its new chief executive.

The rumor that came to light earlier today regarding Don Mattrick's departure from Microsoft for the green fields of Zynga have now been made official. In a message posted on the Zynga company blog [http://blog.zynga.com/2013/07/01/big-day/], founder and soon-to-be-former CEO Mark Pincus announced that Mattrick will in fact take over as CEO, while Pincus will stay on as Chairman and Chief Product Officer.

"Over the last few months I've spent a lot of time thinking about all that we have achieved together as a company. We have pioneered social gaming and helped make Play a core part of millions of people's lives. But Zynga has so much more potential ahead, the opportunity to be an Internet Treasure and deliver on our mission of connecting the world through games," Pincus wrote.

"As I reflect on the past six years, I realize that I've had the greatest impact working as an entrepreneur with product teams, developing games that could entertain and connect millions," he continued. "I've always said to Bing and our Board that if I could find someone who could do a better job as our CEO I'd do all I could to recruit and bring that person in. I'm confident that Don is that leader."

Mattrick will officially take the reins of Zynga next week.


Permalink

Seriously Andy, stop making this stuff up. April Fools was 3 months ago! Then again, comedy of this brilliance is the kind that only reality can bring us.

Honestly, this is by far the funniest news article I've read on this forum. Every paragraph was more hilarious than the last. I mean just TRY to read that 2nd paragraph without laughing, and then try to read the 3rd paragraph without pissing yourself with laughter. "I've always said ... if I could find someone who could do a better job as our CEO I'd do all I could to recruit and bring that person in. I'm confident Don is that leader." I mean that's the funniest statement that's supposed to be taken seriously that I've heard in a very long time.

Edit: And now, Tim Curry's response to this news:

 

[grigjd3]

Don Mattrick is THE GRAVE DIGGER!!!!!!

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

That's it. I'm not even in the real world anymore. Somehow I've jumped into another universe based upon comedy movies.

Somebody send me back to my old universe where things still have some semblance of sanity!

 

[Evil Smurf]

Why do I get the feeling all my words with friends games from now on will contain words worshipping money?

 

[Balimaar]

This video will always live long in my memory. At least at Zynga Don wont be messing up anything I might take an interest in.

 

[Something Amyss]

Wat


Did he decide that he really enjoys fucking up and joined the most fuckingest up game company in the industry?

It's actually a bet between Microsoft and Zynga. Zynga said even Mattrick couldn't screw their company up more, and MS said "you're on!"

 

[Something Amyss]

That's it. I'm not even in the real world anymore. Somehow I've jumped into another universe based upon comedy movies.

Somebody send me back to my old universe where things still have some semblance of sanity!

I'm sorry, but first you have to kill that witch over there and steal her shoes.

 

[Yakostovian]

Well, now it looks like Zynga is deader than dog s***.

 

[teh_Canape]

I bet cold hard cash his train of thought for this was along the rails of "IF I CAN'T BE THE BEST, I SURE AS HELL CAN BE THE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORST"

 

[thiosk]

ew. Sounds like a demotion.

you know, if I had been in charge of zynga during the farmville extravaganza, I like to think i'd have invested the oodles of money people were throwing at me into real game technology, not into wringing derivative drivel out of an overworked, listless workforce.